- One Major Inuwa who was reportedly investigating the tragic occurrence ordered soldiers to torture the hotel workers
One of the managers of Hotel Royal Damgrete, Umuahia, Abia State, has been brutally murdered by some men of the Nigerian Army.
The deceased was killed over the death of a Nigerian Air Force cadet who reportedly drowned in the hotel’s swimming pool last week.
The manager identified as Mr Achimugu James Etubi was the head of the food and beverage department of the hotel located on Factory Road.
He was reportedly tortured to death by the soldiers on Friday morning at the military barracks.
Within Nigeria had reported how The NAF Tarmac Four cadet, simply identified as CDT Chidiebere, died on Tuesday in the swimming pool.
Following the incident, the Nigerian Army led by one Major Inuwa who was reportedly investigating the tragic occurrence ordered soldiers including one of the Cadet officers who came with late Chidiebere to the hotel swimming pool to beat four hotel staff that were invited for interrogation to pulp.
According to SaharaReporters, Etubi from Kogi State died during the torture.
A source who is familiar with the matter said: “In the process of investigating the death of the cadet officer, four persons were taken by the Nigeria Police Force for investigations, Mr. James Etubi inclusive. They were detained for a night and were released on bail. But a few days later, the military officers led by one Maj. Inuwa particularly, was said to have invited four persons including Mr James Etubi for further investigations, and threatened the owner of the hotel Mr. Steve Ihendigbo, to release the workers to the army or have his hotel damaged.
“The owner of the hotel now went against the police’s instructions to release them to the military just to save his hotel from attack,” the source revealed.
The source also noted that “When Mr. Steve was contacted after the killing of the manager he was scared to give full details for fear of the Nigerian military
The hotel owner, Mr Steve, had since decried decried the killing of his staff, adding that soldiers had continued threatening to kill everybody in the hotel.
According to him, after the death of the said cadet officer, his staff called to inform him what was going on. “The Cadet officer came with two others. Two were cadet officers and a navy trainer. They came and parked their vehicle. We don’t know what happened because the deceased Cadet officer didn’t swim in the swimming pool. The next thing the other cadet officer started shouting that their college had drowned. We invited the police and fire service to pump out the water in the swimming pool but they didn’t do anything.
“To our greatest surprise, for about four hours he was reportedly inside the water, his stomach did not swell, and water didn’t come out from his mouth or nose.
“So, the policemen took the body took the body to the morgue and took four of my staff to their station. They didn’t come back till the following morning being Wednesday when they released. The police instead of interrogating the two military personnel that came with the deceased officer, were shading them.
“So, when my staff returned some soldiers led by a lady military police came demanding that they (four staff) should come to their office. In the morning Friday, the four staff went there before even 8 am. According to my staff, when they got to the barracks, the lady military police officer ordered soldiers to torture them. One of the cadet officers that was with the late Chidiebere whom we suspect knows what killed his colleague carried a stick with other soldiers and beat brutally. James could not withstand it he collapsed. Seeing what they had done the lady military police officer got a tricycle and told him to take his body back to the hotel.
“Other staff who had already been badly assaulted were telling them that the man was dying. They chased them out with the tricycle operator they had already paid. Instead of coming to the hotel, they begged the tricycle operator to take him to the hospital. When they got to the federal medical center Umuahia, he was pronounced dead,” he narrated.